"Women received the right to vote in 1920. They then became eligible to run for elective office and to be appointed to local, state and national bureaucratic positions.
In 1921, Blanche La Du became the first woman to be appointed to the Minnesota Board of Control. The Board oversaw all matters relating to state prisons, reformatories, parole and probation, and charitable institutions like state asylums and hospitals, orphanages, and other public welfare programs, particularly during the Depression when federal funding expanded their reach. Blanche La Du in the 1920s was also a member of the Minnesota Commission on Indian Affairs (she had worked with the Ojibwe).
By the time Public Welfare functions were split off from prisons in the late 1930s, she was the Chairman of the Minnesota Board of [Prison] Control. “A pioneer in the corrections profession,” Blanche La Du in the 1930s rose to be the first female President of the American Prison Association (now the American Correctional Association). She established an annual prize for the U. S. correctional institution with greatest growth in dual membership (state and national), called the Blanche La Du Award. It is still given today.
From 1922 to 1946, the years of her ascendancy to national prominence among prison professionals, Blanche La Du owned and lived in the home at 1075 14th Ave. SE. She retired in 1946, sold her home, and moved to California where she died at the age of 94 in 1974."
Como People of the Past article By Connie Sullivan
Sources of additional information: - "ACA & women working in corrections", Corrections Today, October 2005
- Excerpt - ". . . A highlight of this period was the election in 1935 of Blanche L. La Du as president of APA. A lawyer and public welfare administrator who served as chair of the Minnesota State Board of Corrections, La Du had served as president of the National Welfare Association and was a presidential appointee to the International Prison Association for 1930 and 1935. (8) She was optimistic that APA could do more for prison reform and called for a much more active role for the association in providing leadership and assistance to state and local governments. She also addressed the need to develop a cooperative relationship with other organizations including the American Bar Association and the Council of State Governments. . . ."
- Blanche L. Waggoner (b. February 29, 1880, d. January 12, 1974), FamilyTreeMaker Online
- Blanche L. Waggoner married Charles Wyatt La Du on August 9, 1900
- "Co-Ordination of State and Local Units for Welfare Administration" by Ellen C. Potter and Blanche L. La Du, The Social Service Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, 1933 Proceedings of the American Public Welfare Association, pp. 383-406. Published by: The University of Chicago Press
- "Mrs. La Du not to be reappointed by Governor Olson", The Brainerd Daily Dispatch, March 21, 1936
- Excerpt - ". . . Mrs. Blance L La Du, first woman president of the American Prison Congress, member of the state board of control for 15 years and once its chairman, will not be reappointed by Gov. Olson when her term expires April 6. A Republican appointee, having first been named to the post by former Gov. J.A.O. Preus and reappointed for a six year term in 1930 . . . "
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